Menopausal Women Maybe at a Higher Risk for Obesity

Ladies, have you ever noticed how you get food cravings every time your period is near? There is a very valid scientific explanation for this. Our menstrual cycle is governed by hormones produced primarily by the ovaries. Two of the most significant hormones are estrogen and progesterone. During the menstrual cycle, these hormones reach a peak or a threshold which corresponds to the time the egg is released (or ovulated in technical terms). After the egg is released, these hormones drop their levels.

 

 

When that happens, it creates a signal in the brain that makes you feel hungrier thus prompting you to eat more food. At the same time, the body starts to store the excess calories from these additional food intake as adipose tissue or fat. Why does the body do such? Well, it is part of its preparation for pregnancy. You see, when the egg is released, the body normally assumes that it would be fertilized. In the same way that the uterus is prepared with blood-filled tissues for implantation (these are the ones that are shed and expelled as “mense”), the body also prepares the energy source that the growing embryo, or baby, would later on require.

 

Now what happens during menopause? The ovaries stop releasing eggs and producing hormones. That’s why during menopause, women no longer have their monthly period because the uterus no longer needs to prepare for any implantation. However, the food cravings remain. With the ovaries no longer producing estrogen and progesterone, the brain identifies that there are low levels of these hormones. The stomach then has difficulties when it is full. At the same time, the body cells need lesser calories to burn. As such, all the excess food intake is stored as fat.

 

But it does not mean that a woman automatically becomes obese when she enters menopause. Remember that a person becomes fat only when the body fails to burn all the calories it consumes. So an active lifestyle and regular exercise would still help the body burn all those calories, even if you do take in more than the usual.

 

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